The Democrats war on the police is already leading to a disaster in Democrat controlled cities

Glenn Reynolds:

Back to the future in policing? Civilian militias in American cities

Police being pulled back in urban areas has led to neighborhood patrols which lead to chaos, violence, gangs and prejudice.

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... In two cities where the police have pulled back from urban areas, they’ve been replaced by armed gangs demanding protection money, increased violence and, yes, prejudice against people who “don’t belong.” Anyone with a brain and a bit of historical knowledge could have seen this coming, which is no doubt why it eluded so much of our political class.

But now the lid is off. The New York Times reported the ugly truth last week. Its story opens with Faizel Khan, one of a number of business owners who are suing the city of Seattle for tolerating and even encouraging lawlessness in their neighborhoods:

"Faizel Khan was being told by the news media and his own mayor that the protests in his hometown were peaceful, with 'a block party atmosphere.' "

But that was not what he saw through the windows of his Seattle coffee shop. He saw encampments overtaking the sidewalks. He saw roving bands of masked protesters smashing windows and looting.

Young white men wielding guns would harangue customers as well as Khan, a gay man of Middle Eastern descent who moved here from Texas so he could more comfortably be out. To get into his coffee shop, he sometimes had to seek the permission of self-appointed armed guards to cross a border they had erected.

'They barricaded us all in here,' Khan said. 'And they were sitting in lawn chairs with guns.'"

How bad did it get? So bad that even the people soliciting protection money were complaining. The Times tells of Khan being solicited by “a Black Lives Matter community guard, in charge of several others. Local merchants pay for his protection.”

But the guard, Rick Hearns, is appalled by what’s going on: “Mr. Hearns has had bad experiences with the police in his own life. He says he wants police reform, but he was appalled by the violent tactics and rhetoric he witnessed during the occupation. He blamed the destruction and looting on ‘opportunists,’ but also said that much of the damage on Capitol Hill came from a distinct contingent of violent, armed white activists. ‘It’s antifa,” he said. ‘They don’t want to see the progress we’ve made. They want chaos.’” Well, chaos is what you get when you stop enforcing the law.

One of the lessons of the decline in crime that began in the 1990s was “broken windows” policing: the notion that if you policed minor offenses against social order, it sent a signal to criminals that larger offenses would not be tolerated. It worked, and crime rates plummeted. Now in cities like Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, New York, and Baltimore, the approach is to tolerate even serious offenses against people and property. It should be no surprise that crime has gotten worse, and that businesses, which depend on order and safety, are suffering.
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The Democrats' war on the police is pure idiocy and ignorance on stilts.  It is a step back to something far worse than any policing abuses.  There is much more in the piece by Reynolds that is worth reading in full.